Worlds Apart
by GuiltyPleasuresAndDeadlySins
Summary: Lindsay Ford is not having a good time. Life seems to keep throwing her curve balls she can't catch and now, she's been thrown out of her own universe into one that is so radically different from her own that she's scared she'll never get home. AU
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: this is a cross-over story from an AU X-Men 'verse set just after X2. The OC characters apart from a few are based on characters from an X-Men RP site (link on profile). I own nothing (except Linnie for now)! Oh, and if any of the words in Linnie's words seem odd, they're probably Geordie words as she __**is **__one._

* * *

Lindsay Ford stared at the darkened road ahead of her. She was heading for JFK airport and a flight first to Dubai, then London and then 'home' to Newcastle in North-Eastern England. The past few months had been exhausting and hectic and she'd _finally_ managed to beg a few weeks holiday off Willow Brians, the new headmistress of Xavier's. Her mind flashed back over the awful train of events that had lead her and the others to this point.

First, the call from Xavier. It had come a few months back, shortly after her dishonourable discharge from the British army and she'd been at an all time low. The invitation to attend a meeting with him and several other mutants had been tendered. An invitation she'd accepted warily.

Second, the meeting itself, Xavier laying out his plans to form a safehouse for mutants and requesting their assistance as he took sips from his dratted china teacup. He sat their waiting for their choice, so damn impassive, no doubt reading their decisions from their minds. Linnie had decided to stay, once again with caution.

Third, Xavier's death. Linnie had seen people die before, but for some reason, Xavier's humiliating demise by poison had been burned into her memories forever. The convulsions that had wracked through his dying frame. The two announcements made by her new colleague Willow Brian: 'Dead' and 'Arsenic'.

Fourth, trying to run the school. There'd been so much to do. Things that needed fixing – the DR room for example. Rooms needed fixing up for the kids. Provisions for most eventualities needed to be brought in and made. Lessons needed to be taught.

Fifth, getting the DR up and running, running a sim, only to be nearly decapitated by a robot. The faint scar from that incident ran down her collar bone and was still visible in most lights. Linnie rubbed at it absently as she drove, eyes fixed on the road ahead of her, trying to stay awake.

Finally, only two short weeks ago the "official" funeral for Xavier. The disastrous funeral at which Ray Black had revealed his duplicity and the school had been attacked. The students were still recovering, and Linnie felt bad leaving but she needed some time away. She wasn't academic like the other teachers, she needed times where she could escape.

Ahead of her a red light appeared. Linnie blinked tiredly at it, not really registering its meaning. Another car appeared directly in front of her.

"Shit!" Linnie jerked completely awake, swerving the pick-up she was driving off the road and right into a tree.

She hissed as the seatbelt jerked tightly around her rib cage. For a moment she just sat there, hands on the steering wheel, staring at the tree that had tried to murder her. (Or rather, the tree _she'd_ tried to murder with her car). Then, her startled mind settled into gear and she tried the door handle and seatbelt simultaneously. One out of two worked, but no the one she would've preferred. The seat belt she could have cut away, the door was a little harder to manoeuvre.

A sigh escaped Linnie's lips. She'd have to shift and try the back doors. She closed her eyes, summoning the image of her cobra form in her mind's eye. A few minutes later she reformed in the back seat, venom dripping from her still present fangs. She forced them to morph back into her human teeth. The door (thankfully) opened and she tumbled to the grass. Groaning, she pushed herself to her feet and stumbled over to the front of the pick-up. It took her all of three seconds to realize she wasn't getting to the airport any time soon.

Linnie pulled out her phone and hit speed-dial five as she wandered back towards the road.

"Hello, Xavier's Institute," the phone was answered. "How can I help you?"

"Get Wi- Miss Brians," Linnie corrected herself.

"Who?"

"Willow Brians. You know-"

"There's no-one of that name here."

"This is Xavier's Institute in Westchester right?"

"Correct," the voice was distinctly cold.

"She's the damn headmistress."

"No, that would be Professor Xavier."

Linnie laughed hollowly at _that_ sick joke. "Very funny. I don't think. He's dead."

There was a pause on the other end of the phone in which Linnie could hear people talking quietly on the other end.

"Alright," the voice came back female, slight accent, was she African? "Where are you?"

"Um…" Linnie took a moment to digest the question before reeling out her position.

"Stay right there. We're coming to get you."

"Right. I'll be here."

She hung up.

"Where the hell am I going to go with a crashed pick-up?"

The lack of light was getting on her nerves. Sighing again she headed back to the pick-up to grab her stuff. She'd been driving in a thin wool jumper and was feeling particularly cold-blooded.

It was twenty minutes later when Linnie heard a car engine. She stepped up to the side of the road, one hand curling around the switchblade in her pocket. This didn't seem to be her world, she didn't know who these people were or what they were like.

* * *

Storm wasn't sure what she'd been expecting at the other end of the phone and she wasn't entirely sure that this was it. The dark-haired, tanned woman stood at the roadside in jeans and a combat jacket looked cautious as Storm and Logan stepped out of the car. Logan was clearly on the verge of unleashing his claws.

"Talk first, _then_ fight," Storm hissed, on edge from this woman apparently from another world – after all, this woman thought Xavier was dead and he certainly wasn't. "And only if we have to."

"The 'Xavier Contingent' I presume?" the English accented voice from the woman called almost easily, there was a sound of careful vigilance in it.

"Indeed," Storm smiled, stepping forward in front of Logan. "I'm Ororo Munroe. This is Logan."

"Lindsay Ford," the woman introduced herself, pushing a strand of her hair back behind her ear, hand sliding out of her pocket.

"Can I ask what happened here?"

"I don't know. All I know is that one sec, I'm driving to JFK, absolutely wiped out, then I see this red light…it didn't register properly…then this car comes at me, I swerved to avoid it, right into that tree."

'Lindsay' jerked her head at the pick-up crashed into the tree.

"That's when I called…well you guys. I meant to call Willow, but I guess we're not in me own world anymore."

Linnie noted that she'd said 'me' as opposed to 'my' a bad habit that Willow had been trying to drill out of the Geordie woman.

"We think that you have been transported across worlds yes," Storm nodded. "You're welcome to come back to the mansion while we try to figure things out."

Lindsay considered that point. Then she nodded. "Yeah. That sounds like a plan."

* * *

Professor Charles Xavier was waiting impatiently for Storm and Logan to return. When Storm had told him what the woman on the other end of the phone had said he had instantly ordered her to go and pick the poor woman up. He had a feeling that she was going to be something else.

The door opened and Logan and Storm walked in with a dark-haired woman with unusual hazel-gold eyes. She stared at him, before taking a deep breath.

"Well…" she stated her voice just the calm side of panic. "This is a surprise. For a dead man you've got a definite aliveness."

"Welcome to Xavier's Miss Ford," Xavier greeted her.


	2. AN: Apology

Major, major apologies!

This is just a note to say that due to making myself ill with stress from my school work, I won't be updating until after the end of March. I promise that when I finally _do_ get round to updating these stories I will try and have an influx ready to clutter up all my kind watchers email boxes. Once again, I apologize for this, and hope you will be patient with me.

Zee


	3. Chapter 2 Finally!

Professor Charles Xavier had been faced with many strange things in his life. He'd endured psychic battles with cruel telepaths, survived an accident that would've killed most people (despite being crippled) and lived through teenage hormones before willingly subjecting himself to _other_ peoples' hormones. The most perturbing thing by far however, were the vivid images playing over and over again in Miss Ford's mind of his own death. Her reaction to him being alive had been surprisingly calm all thing considered, although she had been shaken by his 'aliveness', as she had put it. Xavier was fairly certain that she was hissing as she sat listening to Storm.

"Would yah quit doin' that?" Logan finally snapped, snarling at the woman in the middle of the speech Storm was giving.

"What?" Miss Ford hissed back, lips drawing back from her fangs, eyes turning reptilian as her head snapped towards the man.

"Hissing! It's getting on my nerves."

"And heaven forbid _anything_ get on _your_ nervess. I'm ssorry for being annoyed right now. After all, it'ss not like I'm from another _world_ or something!"

Storm interrupted before Logan could respond. "It's been a long day for all of us I'm sure. I think we will all feel more amiable in the morning. Miss Ford, I'll show you to a room."

"Thank you Misss Munroe," Miss Ford smiled, her fangs receding, and her eyes fading back to a hazel-gold colour.

"We will try to find some way to return you home Miss Ford," Xavier assured the shapeshifter.

She shrugged as Storm led her from the room. Xavier could practically _see_ her disbelief in his words, although there was a faint murmuring of hope as well.

"I suggest we rung in as well Logan," Xavier stated.

Logan moved to leave.

"Oh…and Logan? I trust you will be civil to Miss Ford? She's going to be having a hard enough time as it is."

The other man snorted and left. Xavier decided that it would probably be mutually beneficial to all involved if the two ex-soldiers were kept separated. They seemed to rub each other the wrong way, and they barely even knew each other. Doubtless it was just two military personalities clashing. It would resolve itself.

* * *

"Here we are," Storm announced as they reached a door. "You need anything else?"

"A stiff drink?" Miss Ford suggested, resettling her bag on her shoulder, not sounding too hopeful."

"I'm afraid that this-"

"Is a school? I know. Same rule applies back where I'm from. 'No alcohol anywhere the kids might find it'. Which translates 'not on the grounds'. I get it."

"So apart from alcohol?"

"I'm good…well, as good as can be in this situation…Anything I should know about mornings here?"

"They're noisy."

Miss Ford groaned good-naturedly. "Just when I might actually _manage_ a lie-in it's robbed from me! Anyway, good night."

"Good night," Storm nodded as the younger woman stepped into the room they'd given her.

As the weather-goddess headed for her own room she met Logan. He fell into step beside her, not saying anything, barely even acknowledging her.

"Something wrong?" she asked mildly as he started to growl.

"Chuck just ordered me to be civil to 'Miss Ford'," Logan told her, clearly irritated by this turn of events if the snarl in his voice was anything to go by.

"This is a problem because…?"

"I don't like her."

"Why not? She seems nice enough."

"I just don't!"

"Logan. You sound like a petulant child."

"There's something about her that I don't like! She seems off!"

"She's been transported into a world that is not her own. You can't expect the poor woman to be completely on top of things. As I have said. You sound like a petulant child. Just be civil. No-one's asking you to be best friends with her."

Logan grunted and stormed into his room.

Storm paused, in the hallway before reaching out her mind to her mentor. _"Charles?"_ she called silently.

"_Yes Ororo?"_ he replied instantly.

"_I think we had better keep Logan and Miss Ford separated."_

"_I had already arrived at this conclusion."_

Satisfied, Storm made her way to her own room.

* * *

Willow Brians, acting headmistress of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters massaged her forehead wearily. Between the paperwork Linnie normally cleared up for her so that she could continue her work down in the med-labs, but the PE teacher was heading back to Newcastle. The school still hadn't recovered from the attack by the Brotherhood just a little under a week ago at Xavier's official funeral. The young doctor had been swamped by the injuries her students and staff had received. She had one young woman who'd managed to unabsorb all of the iron in her blood, leaving her unable to get any oxygen into her body, the girl was only just up and about but strictly on crutches (a compromise, Willow would've preferred a wheelchair). Her Humanities teacher was beating himself up for damn near killing Linnie. Various other students were in states of recovery. It was generally not good.

Speaking of which, Linnie should've called, having promised to call once she reached the airport, and considering how manic the ex-soldier's driving was (something about evasive techniques or something like that), she should've been there by now. Willow picked up her desk phone and dialled Linnie's number.

"_The number you have called does not exist,"_ the chirpy voice of the operator on the other end informed her. _"Please hang up, and try again."_

'_Does not exist?'_ Willow thought, handing up the phone and redialling.

"_The number you have called does not-"_

Before the operator could get any further, Willow slammed the phone down and pulled out her mobile, thinking that perhaps she might have dialled the wrong number. She scrolled through her contacts to 'Linnie' and pressed call.

"_The number-"_

"Bugger!" she cursed, throwing the phone at the opposite wall. It bounced off and she scowled. There was a knock at her door. "Come in!"

The black, dreadlocked head of their resident telepath came through the door. "Are you alright Miss Brians? I could…erm…hear your thoughts…"

Willow realized her shields weren't up. "Sorry Joe, I just can't contact Linnie is all."

"Don't work yourself too hard Miss Brians. She's probably just switched her phone off and forgotten to call. She was a bit distracted when she left."

Willow nodded, breathing deeply. Joe was probably right, she was overreacting. She'd wait until Linnie's mum called asking where her daughter was before she panicked.

With a smile at Joe, Willow signed the last of the paperwork off with a flourish and headed down towards the med-labs, head already engrossed in her last report about the effects of poisons and other toxins on mutant physiology. The doorbell went and she absently detoured to open it, not checking who it was. She just assumed it was one of the kids having forgot their key.

"When did we have the locks changed?" the unfamiliar voice didn't quite register in her brain.

"After we were attacked at Professor Xavier's funeral," she answered calmly.

"The Professor's not dead…"

Willow turned to regard the stranger. He was handsome, young and wore a set of dark glasses, despite the downpour outside.

"I'm afraid…" she began. "The Professor has been dead for a few months I'm afraid Mr…"

"Summers," the man supplied. "Scott Summers, co-headmaster at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters."

"I'm afraid you must be mistaken, I'm acting headmistress Willow Brians."

"That's impossible. Xavier was alive and well when I left the school, _this_ school, this morning."

Willow rubbed her forehead, so much for a couple of hours soothing work in her labs before someone chased her off to bed. "Why don't you come up to my office Mr Summers? I'm sure we can clear this up." As she ushered him up the stairs she rested a hand on Joe's arm. "Could you fetch Henry for me? I don't care what pit of self-pity or loathing he's in, I want him in my office in five minutes."

"Yes Miss Brians," Joe nodded and hurried off.

Willow gestured for Mr Summers to take a seat opposite her. "Now, we need to figure out what's happened here..."

"I have a theory," Mr Summers offered.

"Oh really?"

"Yes, on various occasions, I've had the misfortune to be thrown into other...'worlds' you could say. I think that might be what's happened here..."

Willow stared at him. This was _just_ what she needed on top of everything else. A stranger from an alternate world camping out in her school.


End file.
